Schools and Data

PLCs Rooted in Student Information

Professional learning communities rooted in student information are educator teams that meet regularly and frequently to examine student learning outcomes data and then adjust instruction accordingly to enhance student success.

Big Ideas

Instructional decisions should be based on student learning outcomes data, not on educators' hunches or gut feelings. If the instructional intervention worked, great! Build on it. If it didn't, reloop / revise / go back to the drawing board as necessary.
PLCs should create a collaborative effort to improve student performance
The "big idea" of a data driven PLC is to focus on the question "Did the students' learn?" instead of "Was it taught?" (There needs to be a shift from focusing on teaching to focusing on learning.)
Four questions need to be continually asked to drive the PLC:
- What do we want students to know?
- How will we know when they have learned it?
- What will we do if they don't learn it?
- What will we do when they already know it?
Stamford Cycle: Inquire - Research, Analyze data, Look at student work, Examine instruction, Assess student progress, Reflect

Practical Tips

Every time they meet, PLCs should have a list of questions to work through. A copy of the answers to the questions should be turned in to both the team members (for their records) and the principal (so he/she can monitor and assist PLC progress). See the Woodland Elementary PLC Team Meeting Agenda below for an example.
Have a plan for assessing, reviewing, and distributing the data among group members
Create a shared vision for the district/PLC so that there is a sense of common ground to build from collaboratively
Schools and PLCs are continually evolving, just like students' needs and instructional changes are
Schools in our area that have PLCs have a much better teacher to teacher and teacher to student relationship which helps to have all involved moving in the right direction.
Teachers must be taught to collaborate effectively in PLC's.
PLC's will find root causes and use these during their system of practice. How is the process working? What are the benefits? How? Why? Give examples.
Small districts can use electronic networking to broaden PLC. (ie. Twitter, Facebook)
Keep your PLC groups small, 2-3 people is ideal. This allows all members to be more collaborative with each other.

Resources

The following resource is is a review of research regarding PLCs as they relate to impacting instruction and student learning. The document is easy to follow and provides some rationalle for the transition from traditional professional development initiatives to PLCs designed to improve student leanring.
http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu:2048/science/article/pii/S0742051X07000066

plcs

PLCs Rooted in Student Information